Latest news with #LACounty
CTV News
4 days ago
- CTV News
An explosion at a Los Angeles law enforcement training facility kills 3
L.A. County Sheriff's deputies stand outside the Biscailuz Center Academy Training facility, where three deputies were killed during a training accident, on Friday, July 18, 2025. (Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) A deadly explosion that shook a law enforcement training facility in Los Angeles early Friday was being investigated as a possible training accident, officials said. Three members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department died in the explosion reported around 7:30 a.m. at the Biscailuz Training Facility, department spokesperson Nicole Nishida said. It was not immediately known what caused the explosion or what the department members were doing at the time. Sheriff's homicide detectives were on the scene. An early line of investigation was looking at a possible training accident, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the matter who was not authorized to discuss it and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. In a post on X, Attorney General Pam Bondi said the explosion 'appears to be a horrific incident' and federal agents are at the scene to learn more. 'Please pray for the families of the sheriff's deputies killed,' Bondi wrote. I just spoke to @USAttyEssayli about what appears to be a horrific incident that killed at least three at a law enforcement training facility in Los Angeles. Our federal agents are at the scene and we are working to learn more. Please pray for the families of the sheriff's… — Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) July 18, 2025 Arson investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Los Angeles Fire Department and members of the Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad were assisting at the training facility, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a post on X. California Gov. Gavin Newsom's office said he's been briefed and that the Governor's Office of Emergency Services is in contact with the Sheriff's Department and closely monitoring the situation. He later posted on X that members of the State Fire Marshal were helping with the investigation at the request of the ATF. Aerial footage from KABC-TV shows the explosion happened in a parking lot filled with sheriff patrol cars and box trucks. Three covered bodies could be seen near a truck with a ramp attached to a side door. A sheriff's patrol cruiser parked nearby had its rearview mirror shattered by the blast. By Etienne Laurent And Eric Tucker.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Homelessness in Los Angeles drops for 2nd straight year
For the second consecutive year, homelessness decreased in the Los Angeles area, the 2025 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count found. 'Deep collaboration, focused emergency response, and innovative programming caused homelessness to decline by 4.0% in LA County and 3.4% in the City of LA,' the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority said Monday. The count, conducted Feb. 18-20, found more than 72,000 homeless people in the county and almost 44,000 in the city, down from 2023's highs of 75,518 and 46,260, respectively. 'It's official: The annual homeless count in Los Angeles shows a consecutive year decrease for the first time. Ever,' L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said on social media. 'On day one, I declared a state of emergency to reject the old way of doing things. Now, we've turned the page. We will not stop working urgently to save lives.' This year's reductions of 4% and 3.4% for county and city, respectively, are significantly larger than last year's reductions of 0.3% and 2.2%. 'When I first came to LAHSA, I said we'd reduce unsheltered homelessness in three years,' said LAHSA CEO Va Lecia Adams Kellum. 'We did it in one and cemented it in two. By bringing innovative solutions, system change, and working arm in arm with our partners over the last two years, LAHSA has helped move people inside with the urgency this humanitarian crisis demands.' Kellum, who is transitioning out of her LAHSA role, added that 'we can also see clearly that our work isn't done' in an apparent message to local leaders, her colleagues and eventual successor. 'It's crucial we keep moving forward, together, to sustain our reductions in unsheltered homelessness,' she said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Washington Post
14-07-2025
- Washington Post
Los Angeles man dies in jail while awaiting trial for killing and dismemberment of wife, her parents
LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles man accused of killing and dismembering his wife , her mother and her stepfather has died in jail while awaiting trial, authorities said Monday. Samuel Bond Haskell, 37, was found dead Saturday in his cell in a downtown Los Angeles jail and died by suicide, a statement from the LA County district attorney said.
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Yahoo
U.S. Army veteran death due to fentanyl and meth, examiner rules
The death of a U.S. Army veteran whose body was discovered by her daughter in a downtown Los Angeles homeless encampment was ruled accidental and due to drug use, the L.A. County Medical Examiner's office said Wednesday. Lucrecia Macias Barajas, 46, succumbed to the effects of fentanyl and methamphetamines, according to Dr. Jamie Nakagiri, L.A. County Deputy Medical Examiner. Barajas was found dead May 12 at a tarp-covered shelter in a Westlake cul-de-sac along with 39-year-old Pojoy Sajqui. It's unclear what the relationship was between both individuals, though Sajqui also died of the same cause. The shelter was already the scene of death and injury earlier this year when authorities discovered a dead body inside a burned vehicle at the encampment. A second individual, a 38-year-old man, was also taken to the hospital. Read more: A daughter finds her mother dead in an L.A. homeless encampment. Was it an overdose or homicide? One of Barajas' three daughters traced her cell phone on May 12, which led her to the encampment. Video at the time showed that same daughter crying on the ground and later begging Los Angeles Police Department officers to remove her mother's body. Barajas and Sajqui were found unresponsive inside a tent, and their death was pronounced at 7:30 p.m. that day by a Los Angeles fire paramedic, according to the medical examiner's office. Read more: 2 found dead inside tent in Westlake months after fatal fire at same encampment A deputy medical examiner completed the examinations on May 14 and noted there were after-death injuries to Barajas due to animal activity. In May, the LAPD characterized the death as a suspected drug overdose. Police officials told The Times they were not investigating the matter as a homicide despite calls from family members for further examination. A family representative was not immediately available. Staff Writer Ruben Vives contributed to this report. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Fox News
04-07-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Lifeguards in this Democrat-controlled city are raking in 6-figure incomes on taxpayers' dime
It's not just the waves making a splash in Los Angeles this Fourth of July – lifeguards' sky-high paychecks are turning heads, too. According to a new report by fiscal watchdog group OpenTheBooks, at least one L.A. County lifeguard raked in more than half a million dollars last year. Meanwhile, 34 lifeguards brought in $300,000 or more during 2024, while 134 brought in at least $200,000 in base pay, overtime and other benefits. Taxpayers in Los Angeles County are used to getting soaked, but it might be "unsettling" for some to hear how much lifeguards are being paid while the city still faces a shortage of firefighters and police, and struggles to extinguish wildfires or return violent crime to pre-pandemic levels, said OpenTheBooks CEO John Hart. "Lifeguards who risk their lives protecting the public deserve to be well compensated, but paying them more than $500,000 may be unsettling to taxpayers who are drowning in debt," Hart told Fox News Digital. "Once again, Los Angeles — a city that is struggling to extinguish fires and looting — is leading the way in lavish pay that needs to be addressed." L.A. County's 134 highest-paid lifeguards earned a combined $70.8 million last year, according to OpenTheBooks — averaging over $500,000 in total compensation per person. In addition to base and overtime pay, the dollar amount also includes "other" pay, leave time payouts, health insurance payments, pension contributions, deferred contributions, long-term disability and life insurance payouts. The highest paid lifeguard OpenTheBooks found brought in $523,351 in base pay, "other pay," and benefits in 2024. L.A. County's lifeguard division is recognized as one of the largest professional lifeguard services in the country. According to OpenTheBooks, in addition to higher-paid lifeguards, whose duties can range from watching swimmers to major maritime rescues and emergency response, there are a slew of lower-paid lifeguards that bring the total number of them in the Los Angeles-area to around 1,500. OpenTheBooks, which tracks wasteful spending across the government, reported in 2021 that the top-paid lifeguards in Los Angeles County earned up to $510,283 – nearly half of which was overtime pay. That year, 98 lifeguards in L.A. County made at least $200,000. In 2024, overtime pay played a major role in boosting lifeguard earnings in Los Angeles. Beyond Los Angeles, excessive overtime pay has sparked debate in other cities — particularly those grappling with major budget shortfalls. In Seattle, police officers have had to be disciplined for repeatedly violating the city's overtime policy. Per The Seattle Times, a patrol officer made more than the mayor, the police chief or any other city employee in 2019 after raking in more than $414,000. Overtime abuse has been an issue in other major cities like New York and Chicago, as well. In Chicago, where the city faces a growing budget shortfall, records obtained by a local news outlet found that during the first six months of 2024, the city had already spent 30% more than was allocated for police overtime pay. In New York, a former department chief for the NYPD is currently under investigation for alleged overtime abuse and other crimes. Republicans' "big beautiful bill" is purported to help overtime workers bring home even more, with its "no tax on tips" provision. Initially, the House's version of the bill had no limit on how much overtime pay could be exempt, but the Senate's version of the bill capped it at $12,500. Fox News Digital reached out to the Los Angeles County public information office for comment but did not hear back by press time.
